When our editorial team and I discussed product centric entrepreneurship as a potential Design Brief theme, my first thought was, Is there another kind? If you define “product” as the value you create for your customer, then “product-centric” covers quite a few organizations.
I have been involved with two start-ups in my career. The first was as VP of operations at Troy Design and Manufacture (TDM), which eventually became a tier one automotive supplier of engineering services, prototypes and tooling. The second experience was many years later as COO at Rivian Automotive, an electric vehicle company founded by RJ Scaringe.
As I reflect on those experiences, I think three lean product and process development principles are particularly salient for start-up leaders:
- People first – getting the right people on board and the wrong people off to create the right culture.
- Deeply understand your customer and context. A nearly obsessive focus on creating specific value for your customer.
- Value stream thinking. Intentionally designing all the steps required to bring value to your customer.
Doers, not talkers
The first principle is people first and that starts with hiring. Building the right team is always important, but it is both critical to your success and can be quite challenging in a start-up. Don’t hire for credentials or because of what school they attended; hire for what they have proven they can do. There is no room in a start-up for talkers. You need doers. Have they designed or engineered something, run a program, created a tool? How do they talk about that experience? Do they get excited? Will they talk about mistakes they made and what they learned? Will they fit with the culture you are trying to build? What do your other team members think? Are they passionate about your product? Your customer? Are they able to work the long hours often required in a start-up? Once you get them onboard, as Alan Mulally used to say, “love them up!” And challenge them, invest in them, give them opportunities to thrive. Developing your team is more important than any product you will develop.
Go see, learn, experiment
That said, your product is the value that you and your team will create – the reason you have come together. Consequently, the next important principle for start-up leaders is to deeply understand your customer and their environment. Understand how your product will deliver unique and compelling value to those customers; how will your product or service will be better than what’s available already?
This starts at the gemba. “Go and see”; detailed observation and first-hand experience are crucial. Form a hypothesis based on that and start to experiment to learn. Think very broadly about your solution set. Deselect and/or combine concepts as you learn. As you gain better clarity about your proposed product, create a concept paper. This exercise will help you articulate your vision, double check your reasoning and your data, and help to align your team around what it is you plan to create and what it will require from each of them to create it. Take the time required for this study period up front. It could save a lot of heartache and expense later.
How to avoid production “hell”
While most entrepreneurs may have some level of understanding their product’s value proposition, far fewer think about designing the value stream that enables them to deliver this value to their customer. This is why we read about things like “production hell” or why so many start-ups delay launch by months and in some cases even years. It’s why so many struggle with soul crushing quality issues, rework, and recalls. Founders are so fired up about the potential of their product that they don’t think about all the steps required to deliver that value to their customer: manufacturing, delivery, set up, service. Make sure to design each step to provide maximum value to your customer.
Grit is everything
Finally, while it’s not exactly a lean product and process development principle, I want to talk a bit about grit. People are going to take shots at you, and it’s not just your competitors. People who have never built anything in their lives will feel justified in criticizing what you are doing. Stuff is going to go wrong; you are going to fail. Grit may be the most important characteristic of a successful start-up leader as well as those leading a lean transformation. One of the things I used to think about during particularly difficult times and the arrows were starting to find their mark was a speech by Theodore Roosevelt called “The Man in the Arena”. For those of you have not read it before or would enjoy a refresher, read on.
Interestingly, it turns out I wasn’t alone in taking solace in those words. When I mentioned that this speech was a favorite of mine to John Lowery, my good friend and “partner in crime” at TDM and then again, many years later to Rivian founder RJ Scaringe, they both told me that they too thought about those words from time to time. So, if you are grinding it out in “the arena” every day, I hope you too find some comfort in Roosevelt’s speech. For those of you still on the sidelines, my challenge this month is to be the person in the arena and not be satisfied to be one of the “timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Go for it.
The Man in the Arena
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Get Started with Lean Product and Process Development
Improving how you develop and deliver products doesn’t require a full transformation to start—it begins with learning to see problems clearly, involve your team, and improve how work gets done.
At the Lean Enterprise Institute, we help organizations:
- Focus on customer-defined value
- Reduce delays and rework
- Build learning into the development process
- Align people, processes, and purpose
Whether you’re exploring Lean for the first time or want to improve your development system, we’ll meet you where you are.
Explore your next step:
- Read Designing the Future or The Power of Process
- Join the Designing the Future Workshop for hands-on practice
- Bring a coach into your organization for customized training
Let’s take the first step—together. Learn more at lean.org/LPPD »
Designing the Future Using Lean Product and Process Development
Learn how to reduce time to market, improve quality, and drive innovation in a hands-on, coach-led experience that applies Lean Product and Process Development across your value stream.
